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I ran Track and Cross Country as a teenager back in the early 1980’s, when Grete Waitz was in her running prime. She was my inspiration. Her beautiful, graceful cadence was mesmerizing. Her determination was cloaked in serenity. Many times I wanted to give up in the midst of a race, or even quit the team, but the mental image of her running uphill with ease, the health she exuded, and the smile she had at the finish line pushed me. I never won a race. I always came in last or was one of the last few. But I always finished.
I met Grete 20 years later in Central Park at a Corporate Challenge. She just blended in. When I saw her, it was so surreal that I must have looked at her strangely. Grete’s gaze met my awkward stare. Having noticed me picking at my company’s catered spread, and knowing I knew who she was, she gave me some advice: “Don’t eat that cookie before the race. Eat fruit. After the race - then you can eat the cookie.” And she smiled. I dropped the cookie I was holding onto the platter…fast. As she walked away, I stood aghast…jaw hitting the ground. I forgot how much she meant to me.
RIP, Grete. You were and still are an inspiration, and the embodiment of what an athlete should be.
